1. Chapter 10 The Central Visual System

2. Introduction Neurons in the visual system –Neural processing results in perception Parallel pathway serving conscious visual perception originate in the retina –Progress to lateral geniculate nucleus, primary visual cortex & higher order visual areas in temporal and parietal lobes Overlapping neuronal receptive fields –Sensitive to different facets of the visual input

4. The Retinofugal Projection The Optic Nerve, Optic Chiasm, and Optic Tract

5. The Retinofugal Projection Right and Left Visual Hemifields –Left hemifield projects to right side of brain –Ganglion cell axons from nasal retina cross, temporal retinal axons stay ipsilateral

6. Visual deficits from lesions in the retinofugal projection

7. The Retinofugal Projection Nonthalamic Targets of the Optic Tract: –Hypothalamus: Biological rhythms, including sleep and wakefulness –Pretectum: Size of the pupil; certain types of eye movement –Superior colliculus: Orients the eyes in response to new stimuli

8. The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN)

9. Inputs Segregated by Eye and Ganglion Cell Type

10. The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) Receptive Fields –Receptive fields of LGN neurons: Identical to the ganglion cells that feed them –Magnocellular LGN neurons: Large, monocular receptive fields with transient response –Parvocellular LGN cells: Small,monocular receptive fields with sustained response

11. The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) Nonretinal Inputs to the LGN –Primary visual cortex provides 80% of the synaptic input to the LGN –Brain stem neurons provide modulatory influence on neuronal activity

12. Anatomy of the Striate Cortex

13. Retinotopy –Map of the visual field onto a target structure (retina, LGN, superior colliculus, striate cortex) –Central visual field overrepresented –Discrete point of light: Activates many cells in the target structure due to overlapping receptive fields –Perception: Based on the brain’s interpretation of distributed patterns of activity

14. Anatomy of the Striate Cortex Retinotopy

15. Anatomy of the Striate Cortex Lamination of the Striate Cortex –Layers I - VI –Spiny stellate cells: Spine- covered dendrites; layer IVC –Pyramidal cells: Spines; thick apical dendrite; layers III, IV, V, VI –Inhibitory neurons: Lack spines; All cortical layers; Form local connections

16. Anatomy of the Striate Cortex Inputs to the Striate Cortex –Magnocellular LGN neurons: Project to layer IVC –Parvocellular LGN neurons: Project to layer IVC –Koniocellular LGN axons: Bypasses layer IV to make synapses in layers II and III

17. Anatomy of the Striate Cortex Ocular Dominance Columns –Studied with transneuronal autoradiography from retina, to LGN, to striate cortex.

18. Ocular Dominance Columns –Present in layer IV of macaque monkeys - alternating inputs from two eyes

19. Anatomy of the Striate Cortex Inputs to the Striate Cortex –First binocular neurons found in striate cortex - most layer III neurons are binocular (but not layer IV)

20. Anatomy of the Striate Cortex Outputs of the Striate Cortex: –Layers II, III, and IVB: Projects to other cortical areas –Layer V: Projects to the superior colliculus and pons –Layer VI: Projects back to the LGN

21. Cytochrome Oxidase Blobs –Cytochrome oxidase: mitochondrial enzyme used for cell metabolism –Blobs: Cytochrome oxidase staining in striate cortex –Each blob centered on an ocular dominance column in layer IV –Receive koniocellular inputs from LGN Anatomy of the Striate Cortex

22. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Monocular Receptive Fields –Layer IVC: Similar to LGN cells –Layer IVC: Insensitive to the wavelength –Layer IVC: Center-surround color opponency Binocular Receptive Fields –Layers superficial to IVC: First binocular receptive fields in the visual pathway –Two receptive fields - one for each eye

23. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Cortical Receptive Fields –Orientation Selectivity

24. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Cortical Receptive Fields –Direction Selectivity »Neuron fires action potentials in response to moving bar of light

25. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Cortical Receptive Fields –Simple cells: Binocular; Orientation-selective; Elongated on-off region with antagonistic flanks responds to optimally oriented bar of light –Possibly composed of three LGN cell axons with center-surround receptive fields

26. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Cortical Receptive Fields –Complex cells: Binocular; Orientation-selective; ON and OFF responses to the bar of light but unlike simple cells, no distinct on-off regions

27. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Cortical Receptive Fields –Blob Receptive Fields: Circular Monocular No orientation or direction selectivity Majority of color-sensitive neurons outside layer IVC Specialized for analysis of object color

28. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Parallel Pathways: Magnocellular; Koniocellular; Parvocellular

29. Physiology of the Striate Cortex Cortical Module –Each module capable of analyzing every aspect of a portion of the visual field

30. Beyond Striate Cortex Dorsal stream –Analysis of visual motion and the visual control of action Ventral stream –Perception of the visual world and the recognition of objects

31. Beyond Striate Cortex The Dorsal Stream (V1, V2, V3, MT, MST, Other dorsal areas) –Area MT (temporal lobe) Most cells: Direction-selective; Respond more to the motion of objects than their shape –Beyond area MT - Three roles of cells in area MST (parietal lobe) –Navigation –Directing eye movements –Motion perception

32. Beyond Striate Cortex The Ventral Stream (V1, V2, V3, V4, IT, Other ventral areas) –Area V4 Achromatopsia: Clinical syndrome in humans- caused by damage to area V4; Partial or complete loss of color vision –Area IT Major output of V4 Receptive fields respond to a wide variety of colors and abstract shapes

33. From Single Neurons to Perception Visual perception –Identifying & assigning meaning to objects Hierarchy of complex receptive fields –Retinal ganglion cells: Center-surround structure, Sensitive to contrast, and wavelength of light –Striate cortex: Orientation selectivity, direction selectivity, and binocularity –Extrastriate cortical areas: Selective responsive to complex shapes; e.g., Faces

34. From Single Neurons to Perception From Photoreceptors to Grandmother Cells –Grandmother cells: Face-selective neurons in area IT? –Probably not: Perception is not based on the activity of individual, higher order cells Parallel Processing and Perception –Groups of cortical areas contribute to the perception of color,motion, and identifying object meaning

35. Concluding Remarks Vision –Perception combines individually identified properties of visual objects –Achieved by simultaneous, parallel processing of several visual pathways Parallel processing –Like the sound produced by an orchestra of visual areas rather than the end product of an assembly line